USA > New York > Oneida County > Annals and recollections of Oneida County > Part 48
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How long Mr. Van Eps continued his business at Oris- kany cannot be ascertained, but it is believed it was closed in 1787. When he left that place he built a small log store on the farm of Judge Dean, on the bank of the small stream near the present saw-mill of Luke C. Dean, in Westmoreland ..
In 1792 or '3, he built the ancient looking yellow building, still standing on the hill, a little north of the Westmoreland furnace. In a portion of this building he established himself as a merchant, and in the other he commenced house keep- ing, having been previously married to a Miss Young, of Schenectady. He here continued the Indian trade, also fur- nishing most of the first settlers of Westmoreland with the little of " dry-goods, groceries, hardware and crockery," that they needed. He was the first merchant in that town. He had well learned the Oneida tongue, and transacted his busi-
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ness with them in their native language. As has been stated " in consideration of his having been instrumental in forward- ing negoeiations with the Indians, and having made consider- able pecuniary advances, of which there is little prospect that he will be reimbursed," " And the said Indians have stren- uously insisted that the Legislature make compensation by a grant of a part of the land ceded to the people of this state:" the Legislature authorized the Indian agents to set apart a tract of land, etc. Mr. Van Eps at once resolved to com- mence the settlement of his patent. He accordingly built a store on the flat, in the cast part of Vernon Village, between the Scanandoa Creek and the present dyke of the grist-mill. In this building Gershom Hubbell kept a tavern for a short time, for the accommodation of the emigrants, by this time pouring into the "Genesee country " and the intermediate counties.
In 1798, having built a small framed dwelling which is now the back part of the house of the widow Kirtland, he removed to Vernon and opened his store. Mr. Van Eps was emphatically the first merchant. His store in Oriskany was the first in that village, as well as the first in the town of Whitestown, and within the limits of Oneida County, his store in Westmoreland was the first in that town, and now for the third time he opened the first in Vernon. His near- er contiguity to the Indians gave him an extensive business with them. Although in many instances he lost considera- ble sums in trusting them, yet his profits on his goods, and the still greater on the furs received for them, enabled him to sustain himself and amass a handsome property. In 1809, he removed to Schenectady. He however continued in bu- siness as a partner for a time in Vernon, but eventually en- tirely withdrew from the mercantile business and relinquish- ed it to others. In 1828, he 'buried his wife, and in 1829,
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after an absence of twenty years, removed back to his beloved Vernon. The same year he was again married to Miss Sa- rah Underhill. In the enjoyment of that quiet, so grateful to the aged, after a life of uncommon activity and toil, he spent the last years of his life. He died in 1844. His fu- neral was attended with that deep feeling that evinced the high estimation in which he was held. The inhabitants of Vernon Village ever looked up to him with the reverence due a father, and he looked upon the village as his child, and its people as his children. If any subscription was nec- essary for the prosperity of the place, he always headed it liberally. He had no children by his first marriage. His liberality to his relatives was great, and many young men, others as well as relatives, were helped by him to start in bu- siness. By his second marriage he had two daughters, who with their mother survive him. While he resided in West- moreland, he was honored by his fellow citizens, with a seat in the state assembly. He was a man distinguished for the strictest integrity. The author remembers in his boyhood to have heard him styled the " honest merchant " by the first. settlers in the county.
Samuel Wetmore, Esq., the first supervisor of this town, re- moved to the town in 1804, and deservedly ranked as among her best citizens. At the time of his death he had been for seventeen years one of the deacons of the Baptist church at Vernon Village, having held the appointment from the form- ation of that body. He was elected to the assembly in or about 1820. He was a magistrate for many years, and his acts were characterised by independence and impartiality. He died November 8th, 1826, aged sixty years.
The following obituary notice, copied from the Utica.
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Gazette, is all of the history of Esquire Root, possessed by the author !
'Died at Vernon, August 15, 1816. William Root, Esq., aged sev- enty-eight years.
The deceased was no ordinary man. Born in Great Barrington. Masz., he came into the county of his last residence about fifty years ago, and was one of the earliest settlers of the town of Vernon. El :- dowed with a strong and well balanced mind, and gifted with a pop- nlar address, he was frequently honored by his fellow citizens with: important offices, which he filled with great ability, and deserved ap- probation. In the year 1821, he was chosen a member of assembly In this body he was distinguished by shrewdness and good sense Proverbial for his honesty, in him the poor and oppressed found a friend. In early life he became attached to the school of Washington. to which he strictly adhered.
In religion he was pious without noise, and resigned without oste :- tation ; and during a long sickness he was eminently calm and com- posed, and on the verge of his dissolution, he took an affectionate leave of his family circle, like a traveller bound to a distant country. and without a struggle or a groan, yielded his unclouded spirit to his Maker, in a lively hope of a blessed immortality."
Gideon Skinner is believed to be the earliest inhabitant of the town now living, he resides on the farm on which he first settled. A young man and unmarried. with a wallet of pro- visions, he pushed into the forest in advance of any settler. The first day he built a frail hut for his abode and con- menced cutting the timber around it. Just at sunset, for the first time, a thought of his exposed position, as to wild beasts, came over him, for he was without dog or gun. Ou the spur of the occasion, he fell to work, and cut down a large hollow elm which stood near his hut. He firmly barricaded with heavy timbers the open end, leaving but a small aper- ture for his ingress, and providing a sufficient log with which to stop that when he had entered. With his trusty ase, with
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which to "pair the nails" of any assailant that might attempt the removal of the defences, he retired early to rest, and slept quietly and soundly through the night, naught in the least disturbing his repose. He says, this was all of fear he ever experienced in his forest home. Mr. Skinner was the first person who ever lodged at Vernon Centre. During the first season of his residence on his farm, business called him from his home to the westward. He supposed that he had started sufficiently carly to enable him to return before dark, but he was mistaken. It was a dark cloudy evening, and when he arrived at the Centre, he found it utterly impossible to thread his way through the tangled forest, and find his little improve- ment that night. It not being very cold, he concluded to take lodgings by the side of a large log that lay on the ground, which was afterwards covered by the first meeting house built upon the town plat. What were his dreams or sleep- ing cogitations, as he slept without canopy, save the clouds of heaven. on the ground where he has since for many years so fervently worshipped the God of his fathers is not known.
The following epitaph is copied from the headstone in the burying ground near the late residence of Mr. Sergeant.
" In Memory of REV. JOHN SERGEANT. Missionary to the Stockbridge Indians, During 30 years. Ile departed this life Sept. 7th, 1824, Aged 76 years. Blessed is that servant who his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing."
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In the south part of Vernon, upon the first settlement of 'the county, was found an Indian orchard containing some hundreds of large and apparently aged apple trees, and in no place did there appear to have been any attempt at regularity in planting them. By whom planted is now probably be- yond the research of the antiquarian. In the history of the town of Augusta (Chap. IV.), the Indian settlement near John Curry's is noticed, and Elijah Wampy one of the most noted of the Brothertown Indians is mentioned. He inform- ed some of the earliest settlers of Augusta, that the apple trees near Mr. Curry's, had been planted eighty-four years, when that town was first settled, but did not state from whom the information was derived, and it was certainly anterior to the emigration to the vicinity of the Oneidas, of either the Brothertown or Stockbridge Indians. If Wampy was cor- reet in his data, it fixes the origin of the orchard, at about the time the Tuscaroras emigrated to this region, in 1712 and 1714. These Indians had their principal village on the Onei- da Creek, where the Stockbridge Indians located themselves when they removed to this section of country, the Tusearo- ras having just left for Niagara. The Stockbridge Indians :ts is well known came in 1784. When the first settlers ar- rived in Oneida County, and for a few years afterwards, Stockbridge was known as Tuscarora. The probability therefore is that the apple trees at Curry's, and the orchard in the south part of Vernon, were the works of the Tuscaro- ras, and as they and the land where they grew were not in- cluded in the six miles square granted by the Oneida nation to the Stockbridge Indians, they and the clearings around them were left unoccupied and vacant, and that branch of the Oneida tribe which resided at Oriskany, and left that place two or three years after Judge White came to Whitesboro, rame and settled on them. Cornelius mentioned in the no-
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tice of Augusta, as residing near Curry's, was a son of the Sachem, Col. Han Yerry. Hendrick Smith, the relative of Cornelius, who settled at the orchard, was also an emigrant from the Oriskany. Upon the first settlement of Vernon, a cider-mill, the first in the town, was erected at this place. The caterpillars and the great age of the trees combined, have caused the entire destruction of this orchard, there not being a half dozen trees left alive, and these probably of a second stock.
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CHAPTER XXV
VERONA.
IN area this is the largest town in the county. It is esti- mated to be twelve miles square, equal to four medium sized towns of six miles square.
George A. Smith, who was better known in his time by the Dutch sobriquet of Yearry Smith, was the first settler within the limits of the town. His location was near where the Oneida Creek empties into the lake. On Christmas eve, 1791, he with his family arrived at Jonathan Dean's tavern in Westmoreland, and the next day started for his destined place of residence. Such was their snail-like pace, occasioned by deep snow, and intervening swamps and thickets, that eight days were consumed in the journey (now hardly three hours' drive), and they reached their new home January Ist, 1792. Mr. Smith lived about eleven years after his arrival, and in his day he was somewhat prominent as a pioneer settler. His daughter Elizabeth, now the widow Wright, and his son Rulof, emigrated with him, and yet reside within the town, and con- sequently are its " oldest inhabitants." By their old family record, it appears that George A. Smith had a daughter, Eve Smith, born March 25th, 1795." She was the first white ehild born in Verona.
The next settler was Asahel Jackson, who removed from Berkshire County, Mass., and settled at the estuary of Wood Creek, in May, 1796. He erected his house near the old
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military works, known as the "Royal Block House." He soon opened a publie house for the accommodation of the boatmen who crossed from the Mohawk to Wood Creck, Oneida Lake, ete. Mr. Jackson lived a little more than ten years after his arrival, and after his death his widow contin- ued the tavern for another ten years, when she married a man named Eggleston. Soon after, the construction of the Erie Canal turned all the business into another channel, and tav- ern keeping was given up for the want of patronage. In its day, the tavern of Jackson, and afterwards of widow Jack- son, equalled in notoriety some of our best kept hotels of the present time. When Mr. Jackson located himself at the " Royal Block House," with the exception of Mr. Smith, he had no white neighbor within eighteen miles. The wife of this early settler, now the widow Eggleston, resides with a daughter at South Vienna Village.
La Whiten De Wardenou, a Frenchman, was the next set- tler. The preeise time of his arrival cannot be ascertained, but it is believed to have been in 1796, or early in 1797. He settled at a place called " Oak Orchard " on Wood Creek. There is much of romance in the history of this family. De Wardenou and wife were from families of considerable rank in France. As the author himself deals in naught but sober realities, he hopes and trusts his readers will excuse him for inserting the following, founded on this family.
This little fiction soon after its first appearance, a few years since, was copied into the Rome Sentinel, and was read with great interest by the inhabitants of Verona and con- tiguous parts of this and the adjoining counties.
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[From the American Lady's Album. ]
CELESTE: A ROMANCE OF ONEIDA LAKE
BY J. M. T. TUCKER.
[Suggested by remarks of H. Baldwin, Esq., at the Plank Road celebration, Brewerton. ]
CHAPTER I.
" They flee ! But see ! Why turn they now to gaze; Upon the gloomy, reddening sky ?"
Early in the evening of a pleasant day in April, 1793, might have been seen in a richly furnished parlor in Havre, a young lady of moderate stature and moderate personal at- tractions. A close examination however, revealed a mind whose powers were developed in one of the most intellectual pair of eyes ever placed beneath a brow. These, although not the only tokens of intelligence, never failed to impress the observer when they met his own, with the superiority of their possessor. Connected with these were strong develop- ments of benevolence, and of a noble and generous heart. She was a being to be loved for herself -- for lier amiable qualities, by one whose mind was not enslaved by sensual passions.
As we introduce her, she was sitting by a window, appa- rently awaiting the arrival of some one. She leaves the win- dow, and proceeds to her room, and presently returns to re- ceive the message of her father-requiring her to prepare for a journey to London in twenty-four hours. With a pale and agitated countenance, and with a trembling hand, she endorsed the message --
" I will be ready to depart,
" CELESTE."
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Handing it to the servant, she orders him to retire, and again takes her place weeping at the window.
The clock had struck the hour of twelve. All was still in the mansion of the rich merchant La Fargo. A dull taper was burning in the room of Celeste, which revealed equipage for a journey in readiness, and a male servant armed and in disguise. The lady was still at the window. A carriage ap- peared at a distance in the street leading from the mansion. Presently, one of the windows are closed as if by accident. Instantly, with a still and cautious tread, the lady leaves the window, and in a moment is moving toward the street from a rear entrance. The carriage is muffled-the watch allow it to pass, at a signal from its occupant, and turn away smiling, as the shining metal dazzles in the lamp-light upon their palms, whispering as they meet : "Fine fellow that, fine ope- ration, b' gar."
The lady is in the carriage, and soon all is still again in that mansion and in the streets.
It is morning soon, and a couple habited as travelers, with baggage, with male and female servants, appearing to be of middle age, descended from a hotel, and repair to a ship, bound for the United States. The wind is fair, and soon they are under way.
Great excitement prevails in the mansion of La Fargo ! The hour of breakfast has come, and the summons does not bring down the beloved daughter. A servant is dispatched -- the father turns pale lest she is sick, and will be unable to perform the journey-perhaps she has destroyed herself ! No, she is too sensible for that, perhaps-
" Speak girl, why does not your mistress come to breakfast ?"
"Not there ! here is a letter I found addressed to your honor."
" Not there ! a letter ! hand it to me !"
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" Havre, 1793, 12 midnight.
"Dear Father :- I am sorry to leave you-but regard the separation your departure with me to England would create between myself and him who has long occupied the strongest affections of my heart, a great affliction. As a father you have my love-will ever have it. As a husband La Nonresse has my heart-must control it. Be not alarmed. Ere breakfast passes to-morrow, I shall be on my way to America-from which place you shall hear from me.
" Affectionately, farewell, "CELESTE."
"Gone to America! Marry La Nouresse ! Never! My carriage ! My pistols ! Ho, there, De Nair ! Quick, you blockhead !"
" De Nair has gone, too, master, and broken the heart of his poor mother."
" To the ship then-let us away-police."
" O, the ship has gone-been gone two hours ! "
CHAPTER II.
Four years had elapsed. A gentleman and lady were seen walking along the beach of one of the sweetest little lakes in the State of New York, called Oneida. A convenient log house, not splendid like a city mansion, but comfortable, stood a little distance from the shore. The forest around them was echoing with the sound of the axe and the falling trees. Out upon the bosom of the lake danced the canoe, as the waves sped before the wind. Here and there in the dis- tance around them inland, the smoke curled as it arose and parted upon the air, showing that they were not altogether alone. Were they happy ? Listen.
Said La Nouresse, as he fixed his. soft expressive eyes upon Celeste :
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" Four years have now passed away since we left our home in Franec, tell me love, are you happy-do you regret our adventure ! "
" I have but one answer to give, and as they say, the truest language of the heart is expressed in song, I will answer you." Then in a voice melodious and distinct as the harp, she sang :
" Let others seek, in wealth or fame, A splendid path whereon to tread ; I'd rather wear a lowlier name,
With love's enchantment round it shed.
Fame's but a light to gild the grave, And wealth can never calm the breast ; But love, a haleyon on life's wave, Hath power to soothe its strifes to rest."
" And have you no wish to exchange our rude dwelling and these wild scenes, for the gaiety or retirement of your native city ?""
" O ! not the smiles of other lands, Though far and wide our feet may roam, Can e'er untie the genial bands That knit our hearts to home."
Again sang Celeste in the same sweet voice-but added- " Still I am happier here," as shegently leaned her head upon the breast of her husband.
La Nouresse felt the blood rush to his face, as his heart vibrated to the magic power of that love which had trans- planted the angelic being from the soil of her birth and cul- ture-surrounded by all the advantages of wealth and dis- tinetion, into a foreign elime, and upon a wilderness soil, sub- ject to deprivation and many hardships. And when he re-
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flected that, in flying from home and a father's stern com- inand, to escape the doom of a union with a nobleman, be- cause she loved an untitled, unwealthy merchant, he was proud of his seclusion. That being was a treasure, which titles and wealth could not estimate.
Once Celeste had written to her father. She had painted the scenes in which she moved, with all the poetry and ro- mance of life. She represented her situation with that en- thusiasin which it inspired in her own heart. She made her home in the " American wilderness," a transcript of Eden be- fore the expulsion.
To that letter an answer was sent full of bitter unforgive- ness. It was a severe blow to the gentle heart of a daugh- ter. But she reasoned correctly, that, as to the choice of her life's companion, if she had made that life a delight, the com- plaints of her father, however well designed, were unreasona- ble-filial love cannot ask the sacrifice of a life to the pleas- ure of another's will. Life is our own-its happiness our owu
CHAPTER III.
Another four years had passed away. It was late at even- ing. The gentle breath of spring, perfumed by the fragrant wild flowers, that adorned the luxuriant openings, and that crept to the very threshold of the happy cottage, was mo- ving across the bosom of the lake and wildly murmuring in ripples along the shore, while the voice of the night bird was heard in echoes among the forest hills. Upon the floor of the cottage danced a bright-eyed little boy, whom his mother in her forgiving love had named La Fargo, after his unforgiving grandfather, and upon the grass plat in front of the dwelling in many gambols frolicked the dogs, who had not yet retired, and with all, it was a happy scene.
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A coach is seen far away down the road, leading from the Mohawk turnpike, and running for many miles upon the lake shore. Nearer it approaches, until near the house of La Nouresse it stopped, and the driver called out :
" Can you direct us to the residence of a gentleman whose name is La Nouresse, any where in these parts !"
" I have the honor to be that person," was the reply.
In a moment the coach stood before the door. A gentle- man alighted. He was apparently about fifty-five years of age, riclily dressed and wealthy. The darkness obscured his face, and he was not recognized by the owner of the dwelling, who politely invited him to walk in, while himself directed in securing the beasts.
A shriek from his wife soon called La Nouresse into this house again.
On entering the door he saw the stranger prostrate upon the floor, and his wife in a swoon by his side. The man was dead ! He had discovered himself to his long absent daugh- ter, and being overcome by the intenseness of his feelings, fell at her feet ; uttering the first and the last, the only words- " Daughter?" " forgive !"
Deep was the affliction of that little family that night. Long and tenderly with tears sat Celeste by the cold form of her father. That sweet word " daughter," and the sweeter word " forgive," were oft pronounced amid the disturbed slumbers of the night.
The last tribute of respect had been paid to the departed father. Upon examining his papers, a will, prepared previ- onsly to his departure from France, was found duly attested, making Celeste the heir of one million francs and all his es- tates at Havre.
Besides this, among his papers addressed to his daughter, which he had prepared previously to leaving, and during his
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voyage, to provide against sudden death, was a full expres- sion of his entire approbation of the marriage of Celeste with La Nouresse, and an account of the great injury done him by the nobleman who had won his confidence, and through whose influenee he had, by misguided ambition, been indueed to attempt her compulsory union with a villain, instead of being united to the worthy person of her heart's first choice.
Five years more had passed. La Nouresse had disposed of his property in America, and was among the wealthiest. most respected merchants in Havre.
One of his daughters is the happy wife of an American merchant-a son of a New England mechanic, who resides in New York. That merchant with his lady, visited the shores of the beautiful lake this summer.
Such are life's changes and romances.
In some respects, the truth was stranger than the fiction. After De Wardenou and " Celeste " had interchanged Fows of eternal constancy, the girl's friends to prevent their mar- riage. confined her in a convent. But love not only laughed at the locksmith, but triumphed over the vigilance of the lady superior, she escaped, they were married, and embarked for America. He had a handsome fortune at command. which he invested in merchandize and brought to New York Here misfortune overtook him, and he nearly lost his all. when they emigrated to the vicinity of the Oneida Lake. Even here trouble sought them out. A lovely little child. their first born, sickened and died, in 1797. No coffin could be procured. Its little cradle was substituted. A few years after, when the Western Inland Loek Navigation Company were about erecting a structure at the Oak Orebard, in
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